Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Hello All

I have a 2005-06' 926dle with the new chute rotation controll . The chute exhibits some strange behaviour. If you move the controll quickly left to right or vice/v,  there may be some backlash of the chute. By this I mean the chute has not locked into position properly. It may lock, but not where you want it to. Chutes gone wild. I took the chute gear assembly apart and it seemed to have to much play between the Chute Gear and the Locking Chute Gear at certain positions. On my unit the problem was worse on the left side. This design, as is, has a very narrow operating tolerance.  I replaced the two washers behind the chute gear (spacers to me)  with a slightly thicker nylon washer and now it operates as it was intended too. I am sure this will vary from unit to unit.  I think Ariens is going to get some calls on this. I don't mind fixing this myself, actually it  was kinda fun to figure it out and get it to work properly. YMMV.  When I was all done perfecting this setup I measured the chute rotation to be aprox. 210 degrees. With a different Chute Gear this could easily be more.

John

I was at a Home Depot today and checked the 3 Ariens they had out on the floor; 926, 11528 and 1336 LEs. The chute controls seemed to work fine, but I didn't really like the way the chutes whipped noisily around from side to side. Perhaps under actual working conditions that would be mitigated.

But you dont have to pull or push. Just tap the lever and the lock is disengaged. I think it works rather slick, after I figured it out.  I'll be double checking all that was assembled.  As for the locking mechanism, mine was the same. After contacting Ariens, a slight tug on the housing was all it took to operate perfectly. Shipping, setup, probably. 

I looked at the MTD also, same as the sears model, and thought how can I spend 1000 on THAT after seeing the build of the Ariens.

I just picked up the 11528 from HD and feel fortunate. There was not an Ariens machine to be found in S.E. Mass. I called every dealer within a 100 miles.  When HD said they just got some in, I ran to get one.  Another store in my area sold out in 1 day a week prior.  I'd much rather purchase from the local dealer, and maybe would have gotten the DLE instead if they had been available. But being in panic mode, I'm happy I got what I did.

Jonathan:

When that engine roars to life, you won't hear the chute rattle! lol

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I could also add Honda to the list of improper drive control setups and discuss a certain internal drive pin on some models that shears off after a couple of years and about chute cranks that are placed so low that you tax your spine (if your tall) everytime you want to crank the chute. (poor design) 

So...it isn't just Ariens.

I could nitpick Toro to death over the years based upon stories from local OPE service shops etc etc. I could nitpick Toro for not making ANY improvement to their PowerShift line of snowblowers which cost them marketshare of their commercial line.

I was at a Home Depot today and checked the three Ariens they had out on the floor. I tried the chute control of the three and none of them was working alike the other one. Three differents snowblowers and three differents way of working. And on 2 of them the chute control worked fine 2 or 3 times and the next attempt: nothing worked. No matter how you pulled or pushed the control the chute would not move. Without the shadow of a doubt this chute control is a crap.

It's bad because four or five years ago Ariens were almost there. They had almost the perfect (weeldrive) snowblower. Now whit the new triger for locking the differential they should be closer than ever if only they could manage to build a decent chute control! Like I sayd; Put the 2000 Pro serie electric chute (and deflector) and now the new triger for the differential and you'll have the perfect snowblower!

Just hope Ariens is reading this site!    ..... and I will sold my 2000 1336 Pro to buy this new perfect snowblower anytime!

Correction: I'd better read what I write before posting.... must have written 1332 Pro instead of 1336 Pro.

Sorry. 

I bought mine from an OPE dealer and the chute works excellent.  By far it's the best innovation I've seen yet. No electronics to wear out or ice up , no bending over to rotate a chute, and it works flawlessly.

No , I'm not an Ariens fan. Before I bought the one I had I was looking at getting a Honda. Lets face it , Hondas will throw snow a long way!  Anyway after seeing an Ariens in action last year and seeing it too will throw snow a mile I decided to purchase one.

Ariens also had awesome plusses like heated grips, the remote chute and diff unlock lever . The Hondas had none of these.

I guess I'm nitpicking too. I think a lot of things on the market could use some improvment. Some easy, some not. Nothings perfect and I realize that. All said, I am very happy with the machine. Any changes needed are very small. I don't think there is a machine out there that you couldn't find something wrong with. I'm still an Ariens guy after all the B*ing.

John

" I bought mine from an OPE dealer and the chute works excellent " ... It seems that you picked up the one out of ten that work well. Happy for you !  Hope this will last! It's like a Volkswagen car. Some peoples have absolutely no problems whit them while many others spend all their time to the garage. It's not my conception of quality production. It need more constance in the quality.

" By far it's the best innovation I've seen yet " ... If slaming the chute to the right than to the left without any precision don't borther you. Ok. Why beeing so hurry to rotate the chute ?

"  No electronics to wear out or ice up " ... Mecanics wear out. Not electronics !  My electric chute never ice up in five years out on temperatures well colder than what most peoples have to experience whit their machine.

" Ariens also had awesome plusses like heated grips " ... An electric/electronic gadget?  >>> " No electronics to wear out or ice up " ?

" the remote chute " ... Don't know what is about here! ... " and diff unlock lever . The Hondas had none of these " ... In fact it is MUCH harder to steer my Ariens whit the diff lock than the Honda trackdrive whit the diff lock.  (Always locked in this case). The possibility to unlock the diff whit a weeldrive is a reel benefit but not that much whit a trackdrive because of the larger surface to distribute the weight and the design of the treads on the tracks that are parallels to the direction to go when steering. I assume that it's for that reason that Honda doesn't equiped their blowers whit unlockable diff.

I am not saying that Honda is better here. After all, I compare all the features of the two and I choose the Ariens in the end. And still happy of my choice! I am just saying that Ariens have a strange philosophy of progress. Instead of slowly improving their products in one direction over the years, they seems to guess and try out in every directions whit the result that their products are improving in somes ways and seems to regress in others. It's not a straight path to improvement. By changing their products concept like that in this kind of "mary go round", ( 3 differents concept for chute rotation in five years ) it look's to me like they take their clients as test dummys instead of testing toroughly their products before putting them on the market. "Locky you if you pick up a good year and too bad for you if this year concept fail... We gonna change it for the next year! ... and the next cusomers"   In fact I consider myself verry lucky cause I love my Ariens... I picked up a good year!   But for the others ? 

I Like Orange call's it  B*ing ?   .... Well it's a point of view... But not my intentions.

jubol wrote:
Sir, can you explain how being a former AF maintenance officer has anything to do with snow blowers?  The organization that brought the US taxpayer the B1 bomber  doesn't seem particularly pertinant to the discussion.

Ariens has sold over two million snow blowers, so someone, somewhere is going to complain about something. You don't have to look too far to see many, many positive references to Ariens units, including machines that are almost 40 years old. I have one that's 35 years old, and was able last summer to purchase all the parts I needed at the local dealer to rstore it completely.

Ariens also has an engineer who monitors this board and answers maintenance questions. He's not a salesperson and seldom if ever even posts in a thread by a prospective buyer unless there has been some factual innacuracy.

I certainly don't see anyone from Husquavarna/Electrolux/ posting here in support of their products. And the fact that their most powerful machines have 12" augers and impellers certainly doesn't impress most folks in New England, where Ariens probably outsells Huskie 10:1.

Now that you're hanging out on this forum exclusively, you can fill us in?